Agencies not violating human rights, Prime Minister tells National Assembly

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Friday urged the parliamentarians to make effective and zero tolerance laws to curb terrorism, and called upon the politicians to show maturity, and asked the media to act responsibly.
"The prevailing anti-terrorism laws are not effective, and those held under these laws are easily bailed out and restart their nefarious terrorism activities. There is a need to revisit anti-terror laws. The Parliament should make effective and zero-tolerance legislation to curb terrorism," the Prime Minister said while addressing the National Assembly.
He said: "I will not blame the judiciary, but there is need to improve anti-terrorist laws because thousands of terrorists who were apprehended by the law enforcement agencies were bailed out from the courts, and again indulged in terrorist activities". The Prime Minister said that Islam gives the message of peace and tolerance and it does not allow violence, while perception of foreign media about Islam is wrong. He said, "Foreign media is trying to spoil the image of Pakistani institutions by giving false news".
Responding to Opposition Leader's concern on news items reported by foreign media about Pakistan's security agencies, the Prime Minister said that Pakistan's security agencies are not violating human rights. He said that terrorists have killed many innocent people and thousands of army, and security agency personnel have been martyred during the war on terror.
Gilani said that several foreign delegations met with him and raised the issue of human rights violation. "If our agencies have to violate human rights then they would have asked us in meetings to make the anti-terrorists law ineffective," he argued. Referring to exchange of harsh words between leaders of PML-N and MQM, he said that politicians have to show maturity and they should avoid such statements about each other's leadership. He added that political leadership is worthy of respect. In this regard, Gilani urged the media also to show responsibility and to report facts and not distort them.